The Most Extreme Republican Platform In Memory

For all the disruption and damage that Donald Trump has meant for Republicans, the party’s statement of its views in its newly written convention platform rivals him for shock value. Platforms are traditionally written by and for the party faithful and largely ignored by everyone else. But this year, the Republicans are putting out an agenda that demands notice.

It is as though, rather than trying to reconcile Mr. Trump’s heretical views with conservative orthodoxy, the writers of the platform simply opted to go with the most extreme version of every position. Tailored to Mr. Trump’s impulsive bluster, this document lays bare just how much the G.O.P. is driven by a regressive, extremist inner core.

Mr. Trump’s anti-Muslim phobia and fantasy wall across the Mexican border are front and center, along with his protectionist views, which deny long-held positions of the party. No less alarming is a raft of planks that ideologues pushed through to banish any notion of moderation and present-day reality from the party’s credo.

Mike Malloy produces a two-hour podcast that can be heard online Monday through Friday from 9P until 11P ET. His radio experience includes two 50,000 watt blow-torches: WSB-AM in Atlanta and WLS-AM in Chicago. He was one of the original hosts on Air America Radio, and he wrote and produced for CNN (1984-87) and CNN-International (2000). He is the only radio talk show host in America to have received the A.I.R (Achievement in Radio) Award in both Chicago and New York City, the nation’s number three and number one radio markets respectively.